‘Portlandia’ Stars Say 95% of Dialogue Improvised

ByKathy Shwiff

About 95 percent of the dialogue in “Portlandia” is improvised, creators of the sketch-comedy television series shown on the Independent Film Channel said Monday night in New York.

The series, which grew out of “ThunderAnt,” online videos created by “Saturday Night Live” cast member Fred Armisen and musician Carrie Brownstein, is now in its third season.

Armisen, Brownstein and director Jonathan Krisel took part in the discussion, which was distributed on the Internet through Livestream.

Brownstein, who became known as a guitarist and vocalist in the band Sleater-Kinney and now is part of the band Wild Flag, met Armisen at an “SNL” after-party in New York. “We had an instant connection … we just share a very similar language,” she said, noting that they started working together about a year later.

Krisel, a graduate of New York University’s film school, said production of “Portlandia,” shot in Portland, Ore., has more in common with a band recording session than with most TV shows. “We have a good family recording-studio vibe going.”

That allows the creators to change course and develop the comedy, rather than having to stick to a script that writers thought was funny six months earlier, he said.

“The tangent becomes the center often,” Brownstein said.

The three and maybe one other writer map out the sketches in Los Angeles, but most of the words are improvised on the set in Portland, Krisel said.

“Comedy is like alchemy,” he said. “You have to be able to find it with the performance and the writing and the improv.”

“We have the flexibility ’cause it’s sort of this indie film kind of thing” to find what’s funny, he added.

Armisen said the editors sometimes find jokes that the actors didn’t realize were caught on film.

“Portlandia” deliberately is shot and edited informally “like cable access nightmare was kind of the aesthetic,” Krisel said. “A lot of the ‘Portlandia’ characters and a lot of the moments aren’t really TV-worthy but that’s what is so refreshing about seeing them,” he added.

Even in its third season, the show’s format is open-ended. “There’s a lot of avenues we can go down.”

The creators said the city of Portland has embraced the show, with business owners, residents and town officials opening their stores, home and City Hall to filming.

They even have shot scenes in local police cars, Brownstein said, with police computers and weapons left unattended in them.

Armisen said that when they first started the series, the creators walked around Portland and tried to imagine the people who live and work there.

Krisel said they try to make the show “really grounded in the things that everyone’s parents are doing.”

He also said the friendship between the show’s various characters, played by Armisen and Brownstein, is what brings the audience back. “This is what ‘Portlandia’ has: Real dynamic between two people. That’s what makes it different.”

In addition, the show’s characters are more real than many on TV, Krisel said. When he sees the actors in costume, he thinks, “I know that guy. … It’s funnier when it’s rooted in reality a little bit.”

Brownstein, who grew up in Seattle, said many “Portlandia” characters have come from the indie music and culture scene. “We feel of this world. This to me is part of an ongoing conversation that people who are trying to live by a certain set of rules and guidelines are having with each other. So it’s OK to poke fun at ourselves.”

“Portlandia” is known for actors, musicians, even sports stars, such as Martina Navratilova, appearing as guest stars. The creators said the tradition began with Kyle MacLachlan’s appearance in the pilot. “We were huge ‘Twin Peaks’ fans,” Brownstein said. “He just said, ‘I want to do something cool again.’ He was onboard from the git-go.”

They have asked friends to appear and used executive producer Lorne Michaels’ contacts, adding that many people have been willing “to come and sort of play with us,” even paying for their own flights to Portland, she said.

Among the guest stars they would love to have are film director Woody Allen, writer-director Vincent Gallo and actor Tom Hulce, Armisen said.

Armisen said he realized “Portlandia” was a success when strangers who approached him in airports mentioned it rather than “SNL,” where he has been a regular cast member since 2004. “That’s when I knew that it was something different.”

The event was part of the New York Times’s TimesTalks series.

[This article has been updated.]

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